Interior Rating:

The cabin of the Lexus LC is a special place, with a great driving position, rich materials, beautiful craftsmanship, excellent front seats, and loads of technology. Some of its ergonomics can be fussy in practice, but the overall ambience suits the LC’s concept car looks.

Interior Space Comparisons

General interior dimensions compare well with other high-end sport coupes and lend front passengers plenty of stretch-out space. Taller occupants should note that opting for the lighter carbon-fiber roof panel instead of the standard fixed glass piece reduces headroom by 0.4 inch. As does the Porsche 911, the LC squeezes into the rear of the cabin a pair of small rear seats which accommodate only the most mini of riders.

Front-Seat Passenger Space

Our 6' tester demonstrates how easy it is to enter and exit the driver’s seat of the LC500.

Back-Seat Passenger Space

Our 6' tester demonstrates how tricky it is to enter and exit the second row of the LC500.

Interior Features

Cockpit detailing in the LC is highly driver-centric and includes an inspiration from Lexus’s LFA supercar: a neat, digital tachometer that reconfigures based on the driving mode. A 10.3-inch split-screen display dominates the center stack. Fit and finish are excellent and the optional sport seats are true thrones of spinal support. Certain elements take some acclimating to, including the funky, Toyota Prius–like electronic shift lever. Others are just plain annoying, such as having the controls for the heated seats and steering wheel buried in the infotainment menus.

Feature

Standard/Optional

Tilting steering column

Standard

Telescoping steering column

Standard

Power-adjustable steering column

Standard

Heated steering wheel

Optional

Power-adjustable pedals

Not available

Memory driver’s seat

Standard

Massaging driver’s seat

Not available

Massaging front-passenger seat

Not available

Power driver’s seat

Standard

Power front-passenger seat

Standard

Heated front seats

Optional

Heated rear seats

Not available

Cooled front seats

Optional

Cooled rear seats

Not available

Head-up display

Optional

Rear-seat entertainment system

Not available

Seat Adjustments

2018 Lexus LC500 Performance + 2018 Lexus LC500h

Fore/Aft

Recline

Shoulder articulation

Lumbar support

Height

Thigh support

Side bolster

Headrest tilt

Driver’s seat

X

X

X

X

Front-passen-ger seat

X

X

X

X

Climate Control

2018 Lexus LC500 Performance + 2018 Lexus LC500h

Manual climate control

Automatic climate control

Dedicated vent(s)

First Row

No

Two-zone

Yes

Second Row

No

No

No

Cupholder Location

Vehicle Tested: 2018 Lexus LC500 Performance + 2018 Lexus LC500h

Interior Sound Level

Modern cabins do an excellent job of insulating passengers from ambient noise, but none can completely eliminate the sharp sound of the wind and the drone of tire noise when you’re traveling at highway speed. To measure the interior sound-pressure level, we use a Brüel & Kjær Type 2250-L sound meter, which we position in the middle of the first row of seats at the height of the driver’s ear. The meter automatically averages 15 seconds of sound in A-weighted decibels (dBA), taken while the test car is cruising at 70 mph. (A-weighting is an industry standard that adjusts decibel readings to better reflect how the human ear hears various frequencies.) We take two measurements and average the results. We also correct for speedometer inaccuracies with our GPS-based data loggers. It is worth noting that decibels are a logarithmic unit, so a rating of 40 decibels isn’t twice the sound pressure of 20 decibels; it is 10 times the sound pressure. A six-decibel increase roughly doubles the sound pressure.

The LC is a relatively quiet cruiser at low throttle in its normal driving mode. But open the taps or kick it into Sport mode and noise levels increase precipitously—to a pleasurable V-8 bawl in the LC500 and a much less satisfying V-6 groan in the hybrid.

Test Results: Interior Sound Levels at 70 mph

Seating and Step-In Height

To accurately measure seating height—the distance from the road to the driver’s hip—we use an H-Point Machine (HPM), a precisely engineered device marketed by SAE International. This versatile tool, in conjunction with a laser device, reveals the width and location of roof-pillar visibility obstructions (blind spots). Our HPM and laser measurement tools determine the length of road obscured by the hood as well as the road obscured by the trunk or hatch (as seen through the rearview mirror).

Test Results: Seating Height

Test Results: Step-In Height

Blind Spots, Visibility, and Obscured Roadway

The LC’s sightlines are decent for a two-door coupe, even if the greenhouse isn’t as upright as a Porsche 911’s or a Mercedes-Benz SL’s. Rear quarter-windows lessen the blind spot from the prominent rearmost roof pillar. The Lexus also has a tall rear end that obscures a fair amount of pavement from the driver’s seat.

Roof pillars protect occupants in a rollover crash, but they also create blind spots. We determine visibility by measuring the location and width of each pillar using an H-Point Machine and a laser beam (surrogates for a driver and eyeball, respectively). Front and rear visibility are calculated by subtracting the viewable area blocked by the pillars from a perfect 180-degree score.

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